Friday, May 27, 2011

The End is in Sight

There are only 2 games left on the seemingly never ending road trip for Kansas City. They head to the Rockies this weekend to take on the MLS Champion, Colorado Rapids. The team should have their spirits lifted after the 5-0 win over New England on the midweek, and should have some confidence heading into the game. Like Kansas City, the Rapids had a midweek game, in New York against the Red Bulls. The Rapids pulled out a 2-2 draw behind a brace from Jeff Larentowicz. KC will have their hands full with the Rapids, even if they are missing Omar Cummings and Caleb Folan. They still have Conor Casey who subbed into the game on Wednesday night, and could start against KC, causing them trouble. The back line for the Rapids continues to be solid for them, it should be a good match up for KC's attack.

The win on Wednesday should give KC some confidence, hopefully enough to end the league losing streak that they are still on. KC will have to make some lineup adjustments to their team though, as 4 players have left the team for international duty. Shavar Thomas and Stephane Auvray left before Wednesday's US Open Cup qualifier. Added to that list are Roger Espinoza and Kei Kamara who are going to join Honduras and Sierra Leone for games. That will change the lineup, giving chances to Seth Sinovic and either CJ Sapong or Chance Myers to get into the starting lineup for this weekend's game.

Number to Remember - 0 - That's the number of wins KC has at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, the Rapids home stadium. This will be the 5th game at DSGP, and KC has 2 losses and 2 draws, scoring 4 goals and allowing 6. So even when KC has lost in Colorado it's been a close game.

Key Match Up - Aurelien Collin vs Conor Casey - This will be a fun match up to watch, both are strong physical players that will create a very interesting match up on set pieces and in games.

PREDICTION - KC played better against Seattle and will hopefully continue with that in Colorado in league play. KC won't have the excuse of the Rapids being more fit after their midweek game. I'm not so sure I'm ready to predict a win in Colorado, but I think KC can pull off the draw.

1 comment:

Moop
said...

I'm liking the fact that, despite it not being against a first-team squad necessarily, K.C. is heading into the Colorado game with a strong performance and a commanding win. Add to that the fact that the defense actually looked solid against Seattle and I'm definitely stoked.

I'm just tossing this out there. Meyers has definitely seemed to be playing well in the reserve games lately. However, I wonder if it is not the best idea for him to be thrown into the starting 11, but rather bring him on as a sub in the second half. It seems like I've seen too much (with K.C. and other teams) of someone having a decent run of play and then getting thrown into a bigger situation and underperforming. I guess I'm thinking along the lines of Teal or Diop (good single games turning into a regular starting 11 spot, but not producing).

I guess I kind of want to see Saapong in there as he has had more starts/substitutions in regular season games so far this year.